


Unfinished Business

by Judgement



Category: Fate/Grand Order, Fate/stay night & Related Fandoms, Fate/stay night - All Media Types
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Immortality, Reader-Insert, Romance, Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-05
Updated: 2020-10-07
Packaged: 2021-03-08 03:20:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,653
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26845039
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Judgement/pseuds/Judgement
Summary: Ars Nova — A release from the duties of one's existence, a completion of all the tasks for one to do in this universe. There's no longer a need to defeat him, or rely on him. No longer will anyone ask of him or need to shoulder his death. He completed everything.Yet you had unfinished business with him.
Relationships: Solomon | Caster/Reader
Comments: 6
Kudos: 60





	1. Master of Time

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [FGO Comic](https://archiveofourown.org/external_works/696700) by @yamatoR10t. 
  * Inspired by [嘘です](https://archiveofourown.org/external_works/696703) by @purplewis. 



> Inspired by the comics listed. Alternatively I was going to call this "Master of Time" lmao. I still kinda dig it but unfinished business fits better, I think. Humanity's best master is the only one who has mastered time. 8) (with the help of servants, of course)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Inspired by the comics listed. Alternatively I was going to call this "Master of Time" lmao. I still kinda dig it but unfinished business fits better, I think. Humanity's best master is the only one who has mastered time. 8) (with the help of servants, of course)

“So they weren’t lying. We have done it. It is good to see you, Solomon. Or should I say Romani?” 

“Solomon is.. fine…” The grand caster trailed off.

The appearance of a young woman who looked familiar yet not stopped in front of him. Her hands placed on her hips accompanied by a smile that felt familiar yet.. not.

“Da.. Vinci?” The grand caster remembered her being.. different. 

“Should I say, long time no see?” 

He tilted his head down to look at her, taking in the child-like visage he didn’t remember her with. He glanced up and around the room, landing on the Chaldea logo on the far wall, behind some Chaldean employees.

“Chaldea? Then—!” Hope bloomed in his chest, heart racing. Did that mean he could see you again? You and Mash! “Where are they?” 

He didn’t want to assume, but wouldn’t the two of you have been here? Especially with the commotion that already gathered inside the room, someone had slipped out to tell of the success. He could physically sense the mana of servants that gathered around the entrance to the summoning chamber. 

His magic reached out, searching, and paused. Beyond the servants he sensed something deep, off-putting. It started from below, in the center of Chaldea, and extended out and up. Like a living, breathing magic circuit that provided mana to every corner of Chaldea. It was _massive_ and the further he followed it, the more overwhelming its presence became. The more he tried to grasp and perceive it, the more it felt like a gaping maw below him. Sharpened teeth just waiting for him to fall in. Just what—

“There is.. a lot to catch you up on. I’m afraid. I’ll tell you about this form of mine some other time. There are other matters to go over, first. One being that.. this isn’t the Chaldea you knew.”

Eh? He stopped searching and looked down at Da Vinci, who appeared serious. 

“The year is now 2117 AD.” 

_Eh?_ Solomon could feel the rapid thudding of his heart. 

“Then..” Mash and you were.. gone? Mash, _oh Mash_. How had she lived? How had she died? Happy or sad? He had only ever wanted to give her a life she could be happy with, but he had been unable. No.. not unable, unwilling. Too cowardly to go up against Chaldea, which felt.. so insignificant now. So small compared to her life. How faithfully she had served you, the one she had called her senpai and best friend.

“Out of everyone you knew back then.. only.. only myself and.. one other, remain.” She trailed off, looking unsure as she glanced back to the others in the room.

“One other?” Who? He looked at Da Vinci, who wore a frown to his surprise.

“That’s best discussed in private, if you’ll follow me.” She turned on her heel and set off with some place in mind.

Solomon stepped from the summoning circle and watched as everyone in the room shifted back. He felt as the mana beneath his feet swirled and shifted with every movement of his own. Even now, with him as a _Grand Caster_ it provided a substantial amount of mana. Enough for him, enough for every servant he felt in this place.

The tiles are cold against his bare feet, but he felt strangely numb to it. Focused on following the young genius blindly, his mind still reeling at the information. At the time that had passed, at all the questions he found he wasn’t able to keep himself from asking.

“Mash?” He spoke out.

“Mash..” The young genius smiled when she glanced back at him briefly. “Mash lived a long and peaceful life, if that’s your question. I will go into the specifics some other time but.. she passed from old age.”

Relief flooded his chest for a moment. So she had lived a long and healthy life, oh thank God. 

“And—” He needed to know about you.

“You’ll see.” She cut him off and stopped in front of a pair of elevator doors that slid open. He followed her in, watched as she punched in some command approved by a flare of her mana. The doors slid shut and left them in silence. His stomach lurched as they began their descent. Further into Chaldea’s heart, toward the gaping maw that felt like a hungry predator, waiting.

“She saved everyone, humanity, obviously as you saw.” Da Vinci snapped him from his stupor and he glanced down to her at his side. “I wasn’t around at the time, but she did. The.. Mage’s Association unfortunately upon being restored did not take kindly to everything she had done to restore humanity.”

The young woman looked aggravated, crossing her arms over her chest. “They concluded she broke too many laws regardless of what was on the line.”

“What?” What kind of nonsense was that? They wouldn’t exist if it hadn’t been for everything you had done and sacrificed.

“Exactly, regardless, though I suppose it doesn’t matter. I’m just still frustrated by it, even now. But she was.. it wasn’t like the Mage’s Association could stop her, even if they tried. With the servants that followed and swore loyalty to her. Still swear loyalty to her.” You had impacted them so greatly that they continued to stay here?

“You speak as if she is alive..” He felt a hole in his chest, an ache. He didn’t want to acknowledge the fact that you and Mash both were dead. That he could never see you or her again. He could never apologize for being the coward he was and say that he knew you could do it. Of how proud he was of the two of you.

“She is.” 

He jerked, wide eyed. “ _What_ — _how_?”

“It was after they defeated Goetia. They had to take care of other issues. We call them Lostbelts—I’ll fill you in on those some other time—but she sustained a fatal injury. One of her servants, a ruler class whose true name is Qin She Huang managed to.. they granted her immortality. Though the specifics of how are a bit.. fuzzy. But she is alive, well, and has been here serving Chaldea since.. since back then. Mostly, but she is different because of it, too.”

You were alive, here, in Chaldea? The elevator stopped and Da Vinci exited swiftly and he followed in suit. Heart thudding heavily in his chest and he wouldn’t deny the anxiety that formed sweat on the palms of his hands. Wiping them on his robes until they stood in front of a door and it felt like standing in front of a lion’s den. The giant maw he had felt since he arrived was only a few feet away. 

“Da Vinci, this energy,” he started and glanced down to the young girl.

“You will see.”

A sharp bang from behind the door and Solomon flinched as Da Vinci chuckled.

“Well, that explains why she hadn’t met us.” 

The door slid open and he had expected a dark room full of computer screens. Hidden away from life with how far it felt like they had gone down in the elevator. Yet it was bright, almost blindingly so. The large window that made up most of the wall in the whole circular room save for the one the door sat on. The snow reflected the white sky as pellets of snow rained against the glass. Solomon stood at the entrance. The room was large enough they could consider it a throne room. Perhaps that was why the King was there, with you—he held his breath when he saw you.

“Get your stupid throne chair out of my spot.” You scowled at Gil.

“Over a hundred years and you are still an insufferable, foolish _mongrel_.” The.. supposed, Solomon _supposed_ , Wise King spat back. “I have allowed you to use it as you see fit when _I_ am not occupying it. You should feel honored and instead you are disrespectful!”

“Because you’re always occupying it!” You kicked the stone chair and with a loud bang it fell over. “It’s bad enough you convinced the staff to remodel in here. If you want a throne room so badly go back to Uruk!”

“You are an awful, terrible, disrespectful master!” He stepped closer and you crossed your arms and matched the King’s glare.

“Ahah, so lively this early in the morning?” Da Vinci chimed.

It caught the attention of several servants. Who were used to the antics of you and the King and finally looked up from what they were doing. You shot one last glare at the King before you looked away and down to Da Vinci. Your heart leapt into your throat.

“Is that?” Your mind said it wasn’t possible, Goetia had been defeated by your hand. You knew, but instinctively you clutched the hand with command seals to your chest and every servant in the room stiffened. 

He could sense it, the unwavering loyalty and devotion. Even Gilgamesh who had been arguing with you seconds prior, stood in front of you protectively. His book in hand and his glare was menacing. They would all throw themselves into the fight without hesitation, Solomon noted, looking at each of them carefully. The room was large enough that dozens of them stood scattered about, brandishing weapons. Those who weren’t here but that he could sense in Chaldea were reacting. Ready to move and drill a hole through the floor to get to you if need be. He found he wasn’t surprised you could command their loyalty. 

Da Vinci’s hands rose and gestured for everyone to calm themselves. “It is not who you think we have summoned Solomon.”

“Solomon?” Your voice broke the hard glares of all your servants, every one of them glanced up toward you. “… Romani?” The disbelief on your face and the way your eyes took on a glassy sheen made his chest throb painfully. 

He took a step forward and gave a strained smile. Did he deserve to see you? To confront you after everything? After what he had done, that which caused you so much grief down the line? He didn’t, but he couldn’t stop himself. 

“It’s been a long ti—” You disappeared in an instant, dematerialized from your spot behind Gilgamesh and instantly in front of the grand caster. All of your weight and self tossed into his arms that reacted the moment he saw you in front of him. He caught you and brought you close to clutch you like a lifeline. With one hand around your waist, the other at the back of your head, keeping you close as your cries muffled against his shoulder. Your hands clung to the back of his robes and you refused to let go. 

They had done it; they had summoned Romani home.


	2. Dreaming

You’d cried yourself stupid, to put it mildly. Bawled like a child into the arms of a man you hadn’t seen in a long time. Of one you thought may never be, given his Noble Phantasm. He couldn’t even find it in him to feel embarrassed when all your servants watched. Eventually, when they were sure you were fine, they meandered out and went about accomplishing tasks given to them. Da Vinci had said she’d return a little later and gave the two of you some privacy.

Now the two of you sat in a room off the main one he found you in, smaller and much more quaint. Gilgamesh had kicked the two of you out saying you were too noisy and he would attend to things for you. It surprised the grand caster, but you’d shuffled out and sat Solomon down in this room and went back to bawling.

Eventually the tears ran dry and you sat in silence. Perched between his legs with your face pressed to his chest while clinging to both his robes and hair. You sniffled occasionally and each time made his heart ache, so he gently stroked your hair. 

“I’m sorry,” he finally found his voice and it wavered. 

You bore the burden of humanity’s future on your shoulders single handedly. The people you cared for eventually died on you and it left you alone. He wondered if it made you afraid to give up any of your servants. Because there was always the off chance that whatever rendition you summoned a second time wouldn’t have the memories you shared. 

He felt you shake your head and when you finally looked up at him, your eyes were bloodshot and glassy. He pressed his forehead to yours, the weight and grief weighing on him. 

“I’m sorry,” he broke again and he could feel his own tears. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”

“Stop,” you whispered.

But he repeated it like a broken mantra, knowing it meant nothing. That saying sorry didn’t rid him of his sins and that it would never, ever, make up for the things you’d been through. 

“Solo—Romani stop.” You shifted between his legs, sat up straight and pressed your hands to his cheeks to push his face back. 

He reluctantly opened his eyes to meet yours. One hand reached up and rested over your own. “I’m sorry—”

Your hands moved, fisted into the front of his attire and your lips slammed against his. He froze, stared at your eyes that screwed and felt your mouth as it moved against his own. A part of him expected that if he ever kissed you, he’d find your lips partially chapped, but they weren’t. And he had pictured and imagined kissing you often when he was human, but he had been too much of a coward to confess.

He melted into you, both hands moving to cradle your face, to keep his lips meshed against your own. His tongue prodded for and met yours, rough and desperate. He didn’t want to stop, couldn’t bring himself too with the years of longing that spilled out. Was it wrong he wanted you? To be closer, to feel your skin and body beneath his own. It was, he knew it. _He knew it,_ but it didn’t stop him from wanting it.

Reluctantly he pulled away when his lungs burned and you both sat in silence, catching your breath. The thin string of saliva connected the small distance between the two of you. His eyes flicked over your face, taking in the flush of your cheeks, the way your eyes glazed over. Plump lips and the string of saliva that connected you both. It was enough to spur him into pressing quick, fervent kisses back against your lips. You obliged, meeting each kiss with the same desperation and gulping in air in between. He moved, trailed kisses from your mouth down your jaw and onto your neck and you tilted your head back to let him. You took the break to catch your breath as he kissed down your neck to the junction of your shoulder. 

He slowed, one hand wrapped firmly around your waist and the other tugged at the collar of your shirt, exposing the area more. He kissed there, dragged his teeth across the delicate flesh until there’d be a mark. Satisfied, he let the fabric snap back into place and brought his hand around your back, tugging you to him. You buried your face into him and threaded your fingers through his white hair. 

“This feels like a dream.” You whispered against him.

It sounded broken, like you expected it to be. 

“I promise you it’s not.” 


	3. Your Tower

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This was your Garden of Avalon.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯ 
> 
> Can't really say I know where I was going with this, just mindless chatter I wanted to write, I guess. I'll re-read it eventually and fix the typos and mistakes.
> 
> Listen to [Stormfury - Fractured Light](https://youtu.be/2Asc3c7xZpg) for the extra oomph while reading.

The tension in Chaldea mounted like a crescendo. A climax in flames to the tensions that sparked each time he spoke to any servant. Solomon knew it was an inevitable thing, servants always blamed him beforehand and he doubted it’d be any different now. He expected it to be what it always had been, a place to blame for the events that had transpired, and it was. But it wasn’t the reason it escalated to what it was the servants begrudgingly moved past the original reason. 

Perhaps he would have felt more given the situation if he was his human self. But he supposed that wasn’t much of an excuse given the fact that you had literal _Gods_ from other. Parallel worlds that felt much more than he did. One of which, the berserker, floated near the gathered group that confronted him. Arjuna’s berserker self was.. unique and Solomon kind of envied the attachment he had to humanity. One day he would ask the berserker how he had achieved such. Because surely if Solomon had a human self such like the berserker did, he could find something to ground him to his human side, couldn’t he?

“You don’t get it, do you?” Gilgamesh asked.

“Ahah.. that’s kind of what I’m here for, I was hoping you would explain it to me.”

Solomon scratched gently at his chin, looking more nervous than his drowned out emotions let him feel.

“Tsk,” the caster looked ready to sling spells and Solomon could physically feel the shift and sparks of mana itching to spring to life. The group that had confronted him contained several berserkers, actually. You always seemed to summon those. He wondered why.

“You weren’t there,” Gilgamesh bit out.

The lines on his face grew harder—like he had a hard time fighting down the urge to sling insults and spells. “You didn’t get to see what she went through! You sat behind your screens in the safety of Chaldea, even as a human! While they were out there fighting to save humanity from your fuck up!” 

Ah. There was the blame for that.

“Now you’re back and you think you can just stay at her side?!”

The caster’s spell book appeared in his hand, followed by his axe, ready to declare war. It surprised him.

“That you have any right to stay by her side?! To even stand by her? It’s foolish.”

Solomon flicked his gaze away and down at the ground. He knew it was; he knew he didn’t deserve to be here. The freedom he gained and the opportunity to be with _you_. But he couldn’t—he was selfish, he was _human_ enough to be selfish that he didn’t want to give up this chance.

“The most disgusting and insulting thing I can’t let go of is the freedom you’re given. You can leave while she’s stuck here!” Gilgamesh snarled.

Solomon snapped up to look at the caster. Bound here?

“What?”

The Wise King scoffed, his lip curled in disgust. “She hasn’t told you, then. I suppose it spares you any further guilt. A mercy you aren’t worthy of.”

“ _Enough_.” It hit the grand caster like a concrete wall slammed into him. The complete and utter dissipation of mana. That if he and the other servants didn’t have their own supply, their forms would have dissipated instantly, unable to sustain themselves.

It knocked the wind from his lungs and he may have been a caster which meant his stamina and strength was subpar compared to the others. But given how even Arjuna’s alter dropped out of the air and looked just as winded, he wasn’t the only one affected.

“I appreciate what you’re getting at. But I am the only one who may judge for things concerning me.” You leveled the group with a blank stare, something Solomon noted looked rather cold and detached. “They’ve summoned me to investigate something that has given other masters some issues. I promised you, Arjuna, that you could come along the next time. Who else wants to?”

Arjuna alter visibly brightened, almost like a child. He seemed to forget what they had been dealing with as he floated over to you. His tail twitched and curled around your upper arm when he was at your side. When Gil made no move, you sighed.

“Gil, you need some air. Let’s go.”

“Oi. You don’t get to decide things for me, mongrel!”

“Oh, do you _want_ to stay here?”

The caster frowned and Solomon would almost count it as a pout with the way his bottom lip jut out a fraction. Caught wanting to deny being told what to do while wanting to do exactly what he was being told to.

“Fine. Only because you've requested me.” He tried to save face, shooting the grand caster a dirty look.

You rolled your eyes, turning away from the group.

“Behave in the meantime, everyone.” You dismissed, the trickle of mana returned. 

Gil watched you leave, only moving once your form was out of sight. Arms crossed over his chest, he stepped forward, putting himself beside the grand caster. He refused to look at him, but the scowl was still on his face.

“I learned how the Mash girl could never leave before they gave her a normal life after everything. Ironic, isn’t it? She started without her freedom and gained it. And our master started with freedom and they took it from her.” With that, he walked off after you.

Solomon felt for the second time like someone had punched him in the gut. _What?_ Why did they take that away from you? How was it even possible? With the amount of servants you commanded, there was little that could physically stand in your way. That didn’t even count the changes he hadn’t spoken to you about concerning your body, the amount of mana you possessed. Like a bottomless well, it was tantalizing and foreboding. He was too much of a coward to bring it up and ask you about it. So it remained another anomaly he didn’t know about you anymore. 

“None of you would know where I could.. uh, watch?” He looked at the crowd of servants that gathered.

Cú Chulainn sighed and stepped forward. “Follow me.”

* * *

You stepped onto the rolling hills, green grass shifted in the wind like waves as far as the eye could see. When you turned around from the spacious, picturesque, landscape you could see what the issue was. You felt the mana surge from the other masters as they struggled to deal with the singularity. Arjuna floated behind you. His hands worked through your hair carefully. Producing a ribbon from somewhere—you hadn’t been paying attention—and tying the end of the braid he’d done for you. 

“To keep your hair out of your face, master.” He smiled at you. 

“Thank you, Arjuna.” For someone who claimed he was still trying to understand humanity, he was more thoughtful than most people. 

Gil scoffed from your side and observed what was happening. A war that wasn't supposed to be, the city you stood before in nothing but ruins. The flames from the shattered remains would eventually spread to the field that stretched behind you. It’d been awhile since they recruited you to handle these anomalies that continued to pop up. Something they were looking into but had no obvious clues why. You chalked it up to cause and effect. They didn’t appear before everything happened. Now that certain things no longer existed in this universe, like Goetia, things happened in its place. Why or how, you couldn’t say. That was far above your pay grade, and you weren’t getting paid.

“Are you just going to spend all your time hiding? Or actually help?” Gil bit. 

“Ahah~ I was hoping master would notice me first~” You glanced to your side as Merlin’s form shimmered into view beside you. 

“I noticed I just didn’t want to say anything.” You gave Gil a side-long glance and he snorted back a laugh, a smug smile on his face.

“How can you be so cruel, master?” Merlin scooted closer to you. Clutched his staff and put on his best pout, which you dismissed with a wave of your hand.

“And listen to you complain after you bite your tongue again? No thanks.”

“Guh! So cruel! Truly the world’s meanest master!” Had it been anyone else saying it, Gil would have agreed.

“Yes, yes. You may file a complaint with my secretary.” You mimicked the King and crossed your arms over your chest. “That aside, we should help the others now.”

“As you wish~ What would you have us do, master?” He held his staff ready and Gil’s own spell book and axe appeared in hand. Arjuna floated in front of you, just off to the side, and gazed into the ruined city, a hard look on his face.

“I think we should let them know help has arrived, don’t you?”

Merlin smiled and closed his eyes, feeling the hum of your mana. You’d been contracted with him—with all of your servants—for so long that you didn’t even need to tell them what you wanted anymore. They could feel it through the connection they shared with you, through the mana that pulsed and hummed from your veins into theirs.

You stepped forward, a smile on your face, and thrust your arms open.

“Garden of Avalon!” 

Merlin’s smile turned to a grin, the mana pooling from you directly into him. Fueling his Noble Phantasm and as you wished it, he obliged. Flowers bloomed the moment you spoke, spreading out toward the ongoing fight that had turned the city into a war zone. Covering over fire and rubble, dust and blood, the pink flowers bloomed hope and healed everyone on your side.

“Melammu Dingir!” Gil’s magic surged, taking the mana he needed from you as the fortress and his pride, Uruk, rose from the ground.

Arjuna had already blitzed onto the battlefield, grabbing allies and dispensing them elsewhere on his way toward the root of the problem. Intent on taking it out before you bothered to stress yourself over it.

When it’s all taken care of, the people you saved are grateful but afraid. It showed on their face; the wounds healed, but the exhaustion and weariness remained. Your servants are at your side, Gil and Arjuna looking displeased at the masses while Merlin smiled.

“I wonder,” you had turned away, looking back at the rolling green hills.

The Magus of Flowers hummed to let you know you had his attention.

“Is this how you feel? Trapped within the tower?”

He stilled, hands clutched on his staff.

“You’re here in almost the same sense that I am. But our bodies aren’t, not really.” He had noticed that a while ago, but wisely kept his mouth shut. “At least we have eternity, eh?” 

The light of the rayshift is blinding when it falls down on the field, taking everyone back to Chaldea. But Merlin didn’t miss the dull, desensitized look in your eye. In time you would master magic, call yourself a grand caster as he called himself. Trapped within the tower, unable to escape. And you, trapped within Chaldea, unable to escape. Chaldea had become the tower that bound you. 

He couldn’t offer you words of comfort and he could see that you knew that, by the way you smiled at him. 

* * *

Solomon felt mixed, both taken aback by the beauty in which you commanded the field and your servants. To dominate in such a way that there was little that could hope to oppose you. But also stricken with horror about what he heard before the rayshift, and it all made sense. The giant maw beneath Chaldea that sat like a predator waiting for prey. It bound you to Chaldea in the way the tower bound Merlin. You couldn’t escape it and he wondered if it took everything you had to keep it here, in this universe and not outside it. Or maybe it was the combined effort of you and all your servants, keeping it grounded here. 

“Do you understand, now?” Da Vinci stood beside the grand caster.

He didn’t want to, but he couldn’t run away. 

“I do.” He wished he didn’t.

Your home, your tower, and your prison.


End file.
